Weld County analyzes technology before plunging in

JIM RYDBOM/jrydbom@greeleytribune.com
Weld County Health Inspector Kevin Antuna looks over food items inside one of the coolers at the Tobey-Kendel Dining Hall kitchen during an inspection this week. The Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment is using new technology to improve the way he does his job.

JIM RYDBOM/jrydbom@greeleytribune.com
Weld County Health Inspector Kevin Antuna uses his cell phone to access information about his last inspection while inside the dishwashing area at Tobey-Kendal Dining Hall on the UNC campus this week.

To see Weld County’s GIS data and search for your own house, visit www.co.weld.co.us and navigate to the Assessor’s Office. Click on “Property information searches” on the lefthand column and then on “Property Information Map” on the righthand column.

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As he traversed rooms full of pots and pans, shelves of bread and stacks of canned goods, all Kevin Antuna needed on Monday for a food health inspection was his “office in a bag.”

Aside from his flashlight, thermometer and pH strips, the most important tool in Antuna’s belt pack at the University of Northern Colorado was his phone.

Antuna, a Weld County environmental health specialist, explained at a regular inspection for UNC’s Tobey-Kendel dining hall that he uses his iPhone to call up an entire library of federal food safety regulations, review past health inspection results and take photos of food safety violations.

The smartphone has certainly become the device of choice for many professionals, government employees among them, experts say. But as the tech industry grows, local governments are faced with the dilemma of whether to purchase new devices in the hopes of becoming more efficient, risking taxpayer money if that efficiency doesn’t pan out.

In the midst of such fast-changing trends in the tech world, it’s why governments like Weld County have taken a step back before getting caught up in the whirlwind.

In Weld, officials are set to hire three new technology-oriented employees — a trainer, a mobile device manager, and a business process analyst — as part of a $2 million initiative that analyzes how the county uses technology and pays for technological investments, said Monica Daniels-Mika, Weld County director of finance and administration.

As mobile devices and online databases become more the norm — and the demand — for Weld residents, the county responded by adding the technology and innovation initiative as a major component of its five-year “strategic investment plan,” which aims to set aside as much as $23 million each year with additional oil and gas revenue.

Everything from mobile applications — there is one called the JotNot Scanner app, which automatically turns photos into PDF files — to using global positioning trackers on public works vehicles, to consolidating department printers, comes under this initiative, Daniels-Mika said. She said everything could take up to two years to implement.

Another factor to consider is how well employees use the tools they have, Daniels-Mika said; an iPad is no good if enough of its features have gone unused.

“Return on investment is a key thing in this study,” she said. “This is going to be a cultural change.”

A new age of mapping

The information technology glue for many local governments is their geographic information system, or GIS.

Originally created for public works and utilities departments to quantify and track roads and other infrastructure on a digital map, the system is now one of the most layered, complex and critical databases in a local government’s arsenal, said Patty Stokes, director of Information Technology for Greeley. As in Weld County, the GIS in Greeley spans every department, tracking assessed values, development, special taxing districts, infrastructure and even where the city’s trees are, Stokes said.

That kind of comprehensive information allows the city to lure new businesses by providing exact information on regional demographics and nearby resources, she said.

Twenty years ago in Weld County, residents would have to physically visit three county offices to split their property, Daniels-Mika said. Now, they can come to the planning office with all of the land values and related information they need after visiting the county’s online GIS portal.

Back at UNC, Antuna said the results from his inspection would be put into an online database, searchable by virtually every regulation. He said it helps to see if past or substitute inspectors noted the same kinds of violations at a restaurant — for example, washing hands before donning gloves.

The results of inspections, too, are available to residents on Weld County’s website.

But as residents expect to access information from the comfort of their own homes, a challenge could come in keeping local governments’ information secure, Stokes said.

“The confidential data has got to be our first priority. It’s a big challenge,” she said.

Still, Stokes said a lot could change in the future.

“It’s interesting, because you do a two-year budget almost three years in advance. And as you’re in it, you’re going, do I even know what kind of technology is going to be out there in two years?”